I was lucky enough to get a ticket and be able to travel to Nashville with my friend Troy to the Music City Bowl. I knew we had some pretty great seats, would be staying with a really good friend for free, and that Tennessee would have a really good shot at winning. On our way to Nashville Troy told me we would need to meet his sister in Lebanon at some point to give her something from his parents. I thought it might be easier to meet her on the way back so we drove straight into downtown where we looked for a place to park. We pulled into the first lot we saw was public and were informed that it would cost $20. Troy thought he saw $5 parking across the street so we left the lot we were in to park there. Unfortunately that lot was full, but alas there was a lot just a block further down the street with a sign reading "All day parking, $6" filling us with joy. I pulled into the lot and almost immediately a man ran up to me and informed me that it would cost $20 to park there.
Downtown there was a pep rally where the two marching band and cheer squads were doing their thing. I knew there was going to be a lot of Tennessee fans at this game. I just didn't know it would be this many. We were downtown for nearly four hours prior to going to the stadium, and I could count on one hand the number of North Carolina fans I saw walking the streets. Downtown Nashville looked a whole lot like Cumberland Ave. on game day in Knoxville.
Finding a North Carolina fan in this crowd was like finding Carmen San Diego.
The Vol Walk was at LP Field at 3:15 so we made our way to the stadium to watch Dudley Doolander lead the team into the coliseum before we made our way to our seats. Not too long into the game Troy pointed out to me that there was a little person sitting in front of us. At the time everyone was standing up so I thought it would be easy to spot this person. When I couldn't I asked for clarification as to their location and Troy pointed out that he was standing on his seat to see. While I took a picture of this, I don't feel like it would be appropriate to post on here. Let me assure you though, it was one of the funniest things I have seen in some time. Everyone knows how this game went so I wont go over the game itself, except for the last play of the game, which as we know was the North Carolina quarter back spiking the ball as time expired giving Tennessee the 20-17 win.
Here is proof that Tennessee won the game. CASE CLOSED.
While we were waiting for the officials to confirm they were about to screw us over, LP Field turned into a landfill. All sorts of trash was hurled onto the field from all directions. A referee was pegged with a full water bottle, and rightfully so. As the North Carolina field goal sailed through the uprights to tie the game, a ball boy who looked not a day older than 8 began to run down the sideline toward what was obviously the Tennessee student section grabbing himself in an inappropriate manner. This caused what I believe is the most middle fingers going into the air at one time ever to occur. It was truly an amazing sight. Unfortunately Tennessee lost, causing about 40,000 drunk and angry individuals to trickle out of the stadium and into downtown Nashville. We had planned to go eat but thought it to be wiser to just grab Taco Bell and head to Andy's as to not get caught up in some bar brawl between one of the 13 Tar Heel fans and 100 drunken angry Vol fans.
I thought maybe a good nights rest would make me less angry, but I still felt like I had been kicked in the groin by Daniel Lincoln while he was aiming for my head. We still had to meet Troy's sister in Lebanon before getting back to Knoxville in time to go to the basketball game at 2pm so we headed out early from Hendersonville. When we got to Lebanon, Troy realized he left the papers he needed to give to his sister in Hendersonville, so we got to make that drive twice. This put us about an hour and a half behind schedule once we were finally on the road back to Knoxville. I think I made record time getting back. The game tipped off right as we were passing Cookeville and halftime was beginning when I was getting onto Alcoa Hwy. I was feeling good about the chances of us making for the entire second half, right up until I ran over a curb inside of a mile from the arena, blowing both of my driver side tires. We didn't make it to see the College of Charleston beat Tennessee. Instead we got to be towed to Firestone tire on Kingston Pike and get two new tires put on my truck. That's how my 2010 ended. This year has to be better.
No patching that up.
